Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) refers to the idea of bringing in renewable practices in the supply chain. As per the principle, all stages in SCM including product design, sourcing and selection, manufacturing, production and end-of-life management must be as per the global viable standards. The green supply chain concept aims to relieve environmental degradation and pollution by adopting green practices in business operations. Along with reducing the adverse effect of supply chain operations on the environment, the green supply chain also aims at value addition through the operations of the whole supply chain.
As per sources, renewable energy options are being implemented in the current scenario for the global shipping fleets at all levels and in varying magnitudes, which
includes: transportation of international and domestic goods, people and services; fishing; tourism and other maritime pursuits.
Renewable options can be used in ships of all sizes to provide primary, hybrid and/or auxiliary momentum, as well as on-board and shore-side energy use.
These clean energy solutions are being unified through modification to the existing fleet or incorportion into the new shipbuilding and design, with most applications utilising renewable energy as part of efficiency measures. The focus of renewable energy application in shipping is on:
● wind energy
● solar photovoltaics
● biofuels, such as the Meri cargo ship which claims to be the first of its size to use 100% bio-oil
Besides, hydrogen fuel cells have also been used as an option for shipping.
Other renewable energy drive systems include the ambitious “Orcelle” car carrier that is suppose to use a series of underwater flaps, modelled on the tail movements of Irrawaddy dolphins, to generate electricity by creation of pressure and hydraulic power for the ship. Various options in global shipping vessel types, utility and ways means that different applications promote the use of different energy sources and technologies.
Barriers
The barriers to embrace renewable energy in the shipping sector are complex. These can be grouped under organisational/structural, behavioural, market and non-market factors.
This complexity, in part, reflects the unique and international nature of the shipping industry, with underlying limitations and factors that are beyond the control of individual states to effect incentives plus various policies and regulatory framework required to overcome the barriers.
Concerning market barriers, there exists a fundamental issue of split incentives between ship owners and hirers, which limits the motivation of owners to invest in clean energy solutions for their shipping stock since the profit do not always grow for the investing party and hence savings cannot be fully recouped.
Another barrier – following the collapse of the shipping boom in 2006 there is risk adversity of investors.
Additionally, seldom, the shipping sector is visible to the general public, which leads to less societal pressure for transition to cleaner energy solutions on the industry. Furthermore their are non-market barriers which include various classes and scales of ships, different markets and trade routes and the lack of access to capital are few that need to be addressed.
